Total Eclipse of the Heart
by Nicollette Knight
Summary: Piers Nivans meets Sherry Birkin. It would color and shape the rest of his life.


**A/N: Firstly, I own nothing, all rights to Capcom. Secondly, Jake and Sherry are my OTP, so I felt a little wrong writing some scenes, but I had to know why Piers seemed to hate Jake so much. Especially for a kid he'd never met. This makes sense.**

I. A Chance Meeting – 2011

The pub wasn't crowded, for which Piers was thankful. He wasn't up to dealing with a ton of people; he'd have enough of that when he went on his next mission. For now he wanted to relax while he had a moment. Since joining the BSAA he had plenty of challenge and adventure in his life, but little relaxation and down time.

Piers was heading toward the bar when he saw the young blonde woman in front of him drop her keys. When she didn't seem to notice, he reached down and scooped them up.

"Miss!" When she didn't turn around, he followed her. She made her way to a table toward the back where she met and embraced another woman. Piers was walking toward them when he stopped and kind of did a double take. He knew the redheaded woman. He quickly closed the gap between him and the two women who were now seated at the table together.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but you dropped these." He placed the keys on the table in front of the blonde. He was about to turn and greet the other woman when he was stopped by the blue eyes that turned up to look at him. Her hair was cut short, her lips were slicked shiny with pink gloss and she looked younger than he originally thought. She didn't even look old enough to drink. She was gorgeous.

"Thank you." She put the keys in her purse and bestowed a thousand watt smile on him. "I'd have been in trouble later if I lost these."

"Piers?"

He was shaken out of the spell the blonde had on him and turned to face the redhead. "Hey, Claire." He grinned and bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek.

She smiled and took his hand, pulling him down to sit next to her. "I didn't know you were in town! And look at you, saving the day, as usual! Sherry, this is Piers Nivans. He works with the BSAA like Chris. Piers, my dear friend, Sherry Birkin."

Piers turned his attention back to Sherry, once again captivated by her blue eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." He offered his hand and firmly shook her smaller one.

She giggled a bit at being called ma'am. "It's just Sherry. And the pleasure is mine." She smiled at him. "Claire has told me about Chris's job. You guys are truly heroes."

Piers smiled. "We're just doing our jobs, Sherry. But thank you."

He spent the evening with the two women at Claire's insistence and found himself liking Sherry more and more. She was smart and sassy and her eyes… he just couldn't get enough of them. By the end of the evening he had worked up the courage to ask for her number and was only slightly surprised when she gave it to him with a smile.

II. Courtship – 2011-2012

Being part of the BSAA and Echo Team meant that Piers wasn't always around. Counter bio-terrorism was more than a full time job and Echo Team had the questionably enviable job of extracting agents from infected areas. Piers was the best sniper the BSAA had, and he proven that over and over when providing cover during extractions. His job did make dating difficult, but he made time to see Sherry every chance he got and she seemed to be okay with the arrangement.

Sherry's job in the government kept her in Washington DC most of the time, so he spent all of his down time there. He would take her out to dinner and a movie, or they would watch Netflix with a bowl of popcorn, cuddled on the sofa at her apartment. When he would have to leave for an assignment, he would spend the time apart from her dreaming of being with her again. Her eyes, her smile, they were what sustained him. It was like she was the sun and he was a sun-starved plant reaching for any little ounce of light he could get.

Early in 2012, Piers was at Sherry's apartment. She was in the kitchen, popping the popcorn while he scrolled through the menu on Netflix when his phone rang.

"Nivans."

He listened, a smile spreading across his features. "Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you!" He hung up just as Sherry came back to the living room with the bowl of popcorn. "Guess what, Sher-bear?"

She settled into the spot next to him and put the popcorn bowl between them as she snuggled into his side. "What?"

"Just got a call. They're transferring me from Echo Team. I'm being moved up to Alpha team!"

She looked up at him and her eyes were filled with happiness. "Wow! That's really great, Piers! That's a huge promotion." She leaned up and kissed him lightly. "Congratulations, soldier." She grinned.

He wrapped both arms around her and hugged her tightly. "Thanks, Sher." He kissed the top of her head. "It also appears I'll be working side by side with Claire's brother."

"Claire speaks very highly of Chris. I'm hoping someday I'll get to meet him."

"I'm sure you will. He's a great person. He was the one that recommended I join the BSAA."

"This is really great, Piers. We should celebrate." She put the bowl on his lap and got up, returning to the kitchen. She came back a couple of minutes later with a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. She poured them each a glass and handed one to him. She held hers up. "To you, Piers. Congratulations on this promotion. You deserve it. I know you'll do great." She clinked their glasses and they both took sips.

Piers took her glass and set both aside, along with the popcorn. He reached up and framed her face with his hands and kissed her. She returned his kiss before smiling slightly. "I thought it was movie night?"

He grinned. "I thought you said we were celebrating?"

She kissed him again. "That I did."

III. Break up – 2012

Piers had been sent to Singapore with Chris to investigate an incident at Marhawa Academy. It was his first official job with Alpha, though they didn't have the whole team with them. After they cleaned up the incident, Piers got on the plane, his only thoughts were how much he couldn't wait to get home to Sherry. He had been considering for a while now asking her to marry him, and now that he was on his way back, he thought this might be the perfect time. Their anniversary was coming up. He got on his phone and started making plans and reservations.

Sherry picked him up at the airport. When she was once more in his arms, he swung her around, eliciting a squeal from her. He kissed her and grinned. "I want to take you out." Kiss. "Somewhere fancy." Kiss.

He was probably imagining it, but she seemed to quiet just a little. She smiled. "That sounds wonderful, Piers."

"Great! I'll drop you off at your apartment to let you get ready. I have a few errands I need to run and I'll be back to pick you up around eight."

She nodded. "Sounds great."

He dropped her off then went and dumped his luggage at his sparsely furnished apartment. He kept it to be close to her, but he was rarely there. He jumped in the shower and spent a long time scrubbing the grime of another bio-terrorism outbreak off him. When he got out, he shaved and found his suit tucked away in the back of the closet. He put on a white shirt, the suit and the only tie he owned, blue silk, the color matched Sherry's eyes. He combed his hair and after looking in the mirror decided he was satisfied.

He grabbed Sherry's keys and went to pick her up.

He knocked first to let her know he was there before letting himself into the apartment. She came out of the back hallway, hands affixing a diamond stud earring to her ear. She smiled when she saw him. "Wow." She looked him over and nodded appreciatively. "You look amazing."

"Me? If I look amazing you're radiant." She was wearing a royal blue dress that complimented her fair skin and hair and brought out the blue in her eyes. It was floor length and had spaghetti straps. It fit her perfectly.

She glanced to the floor, a pink stain on her cheeks. "Thank you."

He offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

She took his arm and let him lead her out of the apartment. He was feeling great now that he was home and had his girl on his arm. The night couldn't get much better.

The restaurant wasn't too far from Sherry's office. He pulled up and got out, handing the keys to the valet. He hurried around and helped Sherry out of the car. He led her inside, hand wrapped around hers and asked for the table he had reserved.

They were led to a table in the back, and seated. Piers ordered a bottle of wine. He reached across the table and clasped her hand in his again, just smiling at her. He wanted to hold onto her forever.

After the waiter had poured them each a glass of wine and left, Piers squeezed her hand. "I love you, Sher-bear. I wanted to ask you something." He pulled out the ring box and got down on one knee in front of her. He opened it and held it out to her. "Sherry Birkin, will you marry me?"

The ring was custom, a larger round diamond in the middle surrounded by small sapphires. He watched her face, smiling. Except, she wasn't smiling, she was starting to cry. She gently extracted her hand from his and shook her head.

The tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I… I can't, Piers. Oh god, I'm so sorry, but I can't marry you." Her mascara was starting to run as she pushed herself up, nearly knocking the chair she was sitting in over. She hurried from the table as fast as she could in the shoes she was wearing.

Piers was left on one knee, still holding the ring out, staring after her, stunned.

IV. Aftermath – Late 2012-2013

"Sherry Birkin – National Security!"

Piers couldn't believe his eyes. He hadn't seen her since she left him all those months ago in that restaurant, holding the ring he'd bought her and wondering where he went wrong. And now, in the middle of a warzone in Eastern Europe, his ex was striding toward them with her badge held out, as if she belonged here.

She ignored him, instead focusing on the captain. "Sherry Birkin? You were in Raccoon City."

She looked at Chris, surprised. "How… how do you know that?"

Piers was a little surprised himself. He looked at Sherry again. She'd been in Raccoon City? She must have been so young at the time. And why hadn't she mentioned that?

"Claire."

"Wait. Are you Chris?"

Chris nodded. "My sister's told me all about you."

Piers had turned his attention to the man that had run up with Sherry. He was tall, with short red hair and icy blue eyes. He wore the patch of the Edonian Liberation Army.

"Chris. That man is a wanted insurgent." Piers couldn't figure out why Sherry was with this guy. Or why she was in Edonia at all.

Sherry glanced back at the man before looking back at them, her hands out in a placating gesture. "Yes, he's a mercenary, but right now he's under the protection of the U.S. government. He's no threat to the BSAA."

"Unless someone pays me to be." The man leaned against an abandoned car and acted as if he were brushing invisible lint off his coat sleeve.

"What did you say?!" Piers saw Sherry turn toward her companion like she couldn't understand why he'd say something like that but Piers saw red. Why would Sherry be with a guy like this? God, what was she _doing_ here?

Before he could puzzle any of it out, they got news that they needed to take out the anti-aircraft artillery and the bonus news that they had a giant B.O.W. being dropped on top of them. Piers had to focus, or he'd get himself, or worse, the Captain or Sherry killed, so he focused only on doing his job, even when he heard Sherry say that her and the mercenary would stay and help them.

It was one of the toughest things he'd ever done, focusing on his job when he was worrying about Sherry getting hurt, or worse. He had always tried to keep this part of his life from her, because he didn't want her to worry about him, and now, months after they broke up, he finds out her so-called government job was National Security, she'd been in Raccoon City during the incident and now she was here in the middle of a war? What else could she have been hiding? And why was she ignoring him like they hadn't been together for a year?

Xxx

Chris had called in some favors and gotten Sherry and her companion a chopper out of the city. As they were heading toward the waiting ride, Chris stopped the mercenary.

"Hey…. Hey!" When the other man turned Chris asked if they had met.

"You jarheads all look the same to me, pal. Sorry." The mercenary smirked and jogged off to the waiting helicopter.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Piers made to go after him but came up against Chris's outstretched arm. The captain wished Sherry and her companion a safe flight while Piers shrugged off the captain's hold. He turned around, angry as hell, wondering why they were letting that man walk away. And with Sherry of all people! This part of Europe was dangerous and she didn't belong out here. Piers somehow doubted that the man with her would bother to protect her. Suddenly, he wanted to punch something.

"Captain, we're crazy for letting him walk away! How many men have we lost to mercenaries like him?" Piers didn't express that he didn't feel right letting Sherry go off with him. He couldn't believe Chris would let her do that either. Didn't he realize Claire would kill him if something happened to Sherry?

"He's not our problem. We can't lose sight of the BSAA's mission."

Piers watched Chris walk away and fumed.

A voice piped up next to him. "To fight bio-terrorism, sir."

Piers whipped his gaze in the direction of the rookie, Finn Macauley. "I know what we're here for, rookie." He stormed off after the captain.

Xxx

First, their unit had been attacked by Ada Wong. They had lost everyone but himself and Chris. Then, Chris disappeared from the hospital. And finally, the nail in the coffin, so to speak, was the news that the helicopter carrying Sherry and her mercenary charge had crashed somewhere in the mountains outside the city. There had been no bodies to find, and he feared the worst, though they were officially listed as "missing." It had been so difficult to do his job these last six months. He'd been in a perpetual state of either anger or numbness since the debacle in Edonia.

He had found Chris, drunk and wasting away in a shithole bar in Edonia and they had tracked down Ada Wong in China. And now Alpha Team was trying to contain this newest threat from Neo-Umbrella in China. He used the anger to focus.

They were securing an area in Poisawan when he heard the screech of metal on concrete and then the explosion. He peered over the edge of their perch with Chris and watched as the mercenary kid took Sherry's hand and helped her back up, holding her hand a couple seconds longer than necessary. She held her head in her free hand but looked unhurt for the most part. "They're alive!" When Chris looked at him curiously he continued. "They went missing six months ago in Edonia." He reminded himself that Chris still didn't remember everything. He thought nothing could change his elation at finding Sherry alive.

He was wrong. Suddenly an attack helicopter swooped into their airspace. Another survey of the ground below showed it was now crawling with J'avo and they were all closing in on Sherry. "Neo-Umbrella is after them!" A glance at Chris showed indecision on his face. "Captain!"

"Spread out. Take every one of those damned things down."

Between the BSAA up top and Sherry and her companion below, they were able to destroy the attack helicopter and the J'avo after Sherry. He watched over Chris's shoulder as they left the scene. "Captain, we can't let them go!"

Chris looked at him. "Our mission is to terminate the B.O.W.s."

"But Neo-Umbrella is after them! Shouldn't we –"

"I said our mission is to terminate the B.O.W.s." Chris turned away.

Piers turned the opposite way, screaming in his head, furious. The numbness was fading, now that he knew she was alive, but it was being replaced by fear and worry. She was running around out there in the middle of a fucking warzone, facing down who knows what type of B.O.W.s, being chased and hunted down by Neo-Umbrella and he didn't trust that mercenary to protect her.

He dug deep into his military training and pushed all thoughts of Sherry and her companion away. He had a job to do and he couldn't let his feelings for Sherry get in the way.

Xxx

They had chased Ada through the city and a cargo ship. They had watched as someone on a helicopter shot her before they could. And then they'd grabbed a fighter jet and attacked an aircraft carrier – two of them against a million it seemed – to stop a missile launch. A launch they had ultimately failed to stop. God, how long had it been since he'd slept? He was grateful that Chris was the one flying the jet because he was so damn tired. He listened as FOS patched Chris through to Leon Kennedy. Piers was thankful to hear that Leon and his partner were okay, but his stomach dropped when he heard Leon's next words.

"Chris, listen to me. I need you to rescue two hostages from an underwater oil field. Agent Sherry Birkin… and Jake Muller. He's Albert Wesker's son."

If Piers's hair was standing on end at that announcement, he couldn't imagine how Chris must feel. Piers had known they should have done something to help Sherry and Jake. He knew Neo-Umbrella was after them. And now they were captured. His beautiful Sherry was being held hostage… It filled him with a cold rage.

"…He has antibodies to the C-virus."

For six months, Piers had wondered why Sherry had been in Edonia. Why she'd been protecting Jake. Now Piers understood that part at least. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, preparing himself for the rescue operation as Chris turned the fighter toward the open ocean and the rig where they were being held. He swore to himself as soon as this was over, he was going to sleep for a month. And when he woke up, he was going to get Sherry to talk to him.

The elevator ride to the bottom of the ocean seemed to go on forever. Piers paced the small confines restlessly. Finally, not able to stand the silence or his worried thoughts any longer, he spoke. "There's irony for you. A man who spent his entire life trying to destroy the world, and now… His son is the only one that can save it."

"And here I am, coming to rescue him."

"The man who killed his father. Like I said – irony."

"I don't know. Maybe it's fate." Chris paused, gathering his thoughts. "It's been three years since I killed Wesker. I can't let this war follow me forever. After we rescue Jake I'm turning in my gun."

"What? Wait a minute…" Piers was taken aback. The captain was thinking about retiring?

"It's about time someone took my place. I'd be honored if it was you."

"I—I don't think I'm ready." He shook his head. Lead Alpha Team? Was the captain crazy? He couldn't do it alone!

"You've made it this far, haven't you?" The doors finally opened and they stepped out, weapons at the ready. "All right, this is it."

They found the control room empty, which seemed odd. On the monitor they could see close ups of Jake and Sherry as well as the two of them together. They were locked back to back, both seeming to be lost in their own thoughts. Piers stared at Sherry's beautiful face while Chris worked the controls to try and unlock them.

"Alright, I think I got it." They both flinched as the screen went red and the alarm started sounding. "They found us!"

"We gotta go!" Together they exited the control room through a crawl space and made their way through the facility toward the lower levels, fighting through the J'avo and B.O.W.s that came out of the woodwork to stop them. They still needed to find Sherry and Jake and get them out of the facility.

Finally they reached an area that wasn't immediately overrun by hostiles, and Piers was somewhat shocked to see Sherry and Jake appear in front of them. His eyes quickly scanned her from head to toe, checking to make sure she was unharmed.

Sherry seemed glad to see them… or at least one of them. "Chris!"

"Glad to see you're okay."

"Wait, was that you who just freed us?"

"Looks like you guys saved the day again, huh?" Jake's tone was surly and not a little childish. He paced back and forth, to the edge of the precipice and back. Piers wondered how Sherry put up with him.

"I can see your father in you." Everyone stopped for a moment and looked at Chris. Piers had to wonder where exactly the captain was going with this.

Sherry, probably sensing that Jake was about to lose it, tried to smooth it over. "How did you know where—"

Jake stepped over, interrupting Sherry. "Wait, hold on a second. So you knew him?"

"Yeah, I did. And I'm the one that killed him."

Jake looked at Chris, and then turned his gaze to Sherry, who looked away. Quickly, Jake drew his gun and pointed it at Chris's face. Piers brought his weapon up and pointed it at Jake while Sherry made a motion like she was thinking about getting in between Chris and Jake's gun. Chris didn't flinch. "It was you?"

"That's right."

Piers still had his weapon trained on Jake, but he was worried about what Sherry might do. "Chris!"

Jake barely spared him a glance. "You better put a leash on that puppy."

Chris held out a hand to Piers to stand down. "This is between me and him." As Piers lowered his weapon, Chris spoke to Jake. "Go ahead, shoot." Jake smirked and cocked the gun. Chris continued, "You have every right to. Just promise me you'll survive. The world depends on it."

Jake steadied his gun with both hands, getting right into Chris's face. "Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?!"

Sherry was at Jake's side now, pleading. "Stop it!"

Piers had his weapon back up aimed right for Jake. "Put your gun down! Now!"

Jake ignored them both, focusing on Chris alone. "Tell me, were you just following orders? Or was it personal?"

Chris stared down the barrel of Jake's gun, unflinching. "Both."

Sherry continued to plead with him. "Jake, please, stop!"

Piers wouldn't let this punk kid take down the captain. He gave him another warning. "Before I put a bullet in your head!"

"Just put your gun down!"

"Drop your weapon!" Piers couldn't believe that Chris was allowing this. He was going to shoot that kid right in the head.

"Don't do this!"

Jake, seeming very much his young age, let out a scream and fired off his gun right next to Chris's head. Chris, for his part, didn't move a muscle, staring stoically at Jake during the entire ordeal. Piers was running on a hair trigger, the slightest provocation and he'd shoot the kid in the skull. Sherry flinched back, stunned.

Jake seemed slightly calmer, though he still had the gun in Chris's face. "There are more important things at stake than you and me."

Suddenly the facility started shaking. Piers glanced around, as debris fell. "We gotta go!"

"Jake!"

"I know!" he yelled at her. It made Piers' blood boil that after what he'd done Jake had the balls to yell at Sherry. He finally put his gun down and they started looking for a way to get out before whatever was in the giant cocoon hanging from the ceiling made it's appearance.

As they circled the platform, a console beeped at them, warning of impending infection rates. Sherry pointed out that the levers would control some lifts. Piers wanted to have a talk with Chris, but he couldn't pass up a chance to ride up with Sherry. It appeared each lift needed two people to operate, which would leave Jake with the captain. Piers weighed the consequences of leaving those two together versus leaving Jake with Sherry. He decided he'd ride with Sherry.

They pulled the levers and the lifts started moving. Sherry wasn't saying anything and it was driving him nuts. He wanted to ask her a million questions, but what came out of his mouth wasn't any of them. Instead, he said "Your friend's a little unpredictable, isn't he? Must make it hard to rely on him. Not that the captain's been a walk in the park lately." He threw that last bit in, trying to make up for the harshness of his words.

J'avo were shooting at them and dropping onto their platform. Sherry barely spared him a glance. "No one's perfect, but I trust him. Anyway, all we can do right now is focus on getting out of here."

Piers wasn't really surprised to find that she trusted the mercenary. She just had that personality. It was what had attracted him to her in the first place. He sighed. "Good point." He could only hope that once they got out, she would sit down and talk to him.

They reached the top of the chamber just as the cocoon started hatching. All of them readied their weapons as the giant B.O.W. fell out. It turned and reached out a massive tentacle, smashing the platform that they were all standing on. It sent him and Chris diving one way while Sherry and Jake dove in the opposite direction.

As they all climbed to their feet, Sherry called across to Chris.

"Get moving!"

"We've got it from here!" Piers added. He didn't want her anywhere near this monstrosity.

"Let's go!" Jake started to run but Sherry stopped him.

"Wait!"

"Hey!" Jake grabbed Sherry's arm and Piers once again was ready to put a bullet in the boy's brain. "You've got a job to finish." Jake looked over at Chris, who nodded and then pulled Sherry away while Piers watched, murder on his mind.

And suddenly he had no choice but to focus because this giant thing was going to kill them if they didn't find a way out of the chamber. He and Chris climbed and crawled and ran and sprinted. Just as they thought they had shaken it, it was back for more and conventional weapons were next to useless against it.

Piers and Chris scrambled through obstacles and tunnels while the B.O.W. attacked, and finally made it to a stable chamber. Piers' relief lasted only seconds, because the giant slid it's tentacled hand under the door and pushed it open, forcing it's way inside the chamber as well. It reached for Chris.

"Captain!" Piers rushed to push Chris out of the way and the B.O.W. grabbed him by the arm. He dangled there, the monster squeezing, and he could feel his bones cracking. Chris unloaded his gun on it and suddenly the monster whipped him backwards. He flew until he hit a wall and slid down, his arm getting lodged onto a piece of debris. Blood was gushing and the pain was unimaginable.

Through the haze of pain, he saw Chris running toward him as the monster flung another chunk of metal toward them. It missed Chris, but hit right where Piers was pinned to the wall. He screamed in pain as the B.O.W. grabbed Chris.

He couldn't let it end this way. Where the strength came from, he didn't know, but Piers ripped himself away from the wall. A vial went flying and he looked at it. With no time to think, he crawled to it and injected himself.

His missing arm regenerated as he felt the virus take hold. He fought hard to maintain control and use the virus to his advantage. Between him and Chris in a battle that felt as if it took forever, they were able to take the monstrosity down. As the pressure stabilized for them to get out of the chamber, Chris ran up.

Piers was fighting the change. "I'm sorry Captain. I did it for the BSAA. For the future." _I did it for her,_ he thought. He wanted nothing more than to get Chris out of there.

Chris praised him and was insisting they could both get out, but Piers knew better. He went with him, because that was what the captain wanted but he was planning how he would get Chris out alive. He helped Chris maneuver through the last obstacles to the escape pods. He could feel the virus attacking his mind, trying to turn him into a mindless monster. He gritted his teeth, dug as deep into himself as he could and used willpower he didn't know he had to stay somewhat sane and coherent. Chris was fiddling with the controls, talking about how they were both getting out.

Piers reached over and ripped the BSAA patch off his jacket and held it in his good hand. Once Chris got the escape pod open, and offered Piers his hand to help him up, he grabbed it. He let Chris help him toward the pod and once in front of it, he stopped and yanked his hand away, leaving the patch in Chris's hand. He shoved Chris hard, sending him backward into the pod.

Chris seemed confused, before he realized what Piers was doing. He started pleading with him not to, but Piers shut the door and set it to eject. While Chris pleaded with him that they could both still get out, and to not do what he'd done, Piers watched through the glass. He understood that Chris was upset. If the roles had been reversed, he would be doing the same thing.

As the pod ejected, he thought to himself that he'd done it for the BSAA, for the future, for the world. But mostly, he'd done it for Sherry. Even if he no longer lived on the Earth, the world was a better place with her in it, and he needed her to survive. He had to trust that Jake had gotten her out alive, and by stopping the B.O.W. and the research and development Neo-Umbrella was doing in the underwater facility, he'd made the world safer for her, at least for the moment.

The facility was collapsing around him, but he saw, or perhaps it was just a sense that the B.O.W. was after the pod. He unleashed a final burst of lightning energy into the water, aiming straight out of where Chris had ejected from. As the lightning coursed through the water and his body, as the facility exploded into nothingness around him, he thought one last time of Sherry Birkin.

"I love you, Sherry," he said out loud. To no one. To himself. "I'm sorry."

The world went black.

V. Epilogue

When Sherry returned home after the China incident, she got a phone call from Claire. Claire told her what had happened in the underwater facility and that Piers had sacrificed himself to save Chris. She knew that Sherry had broken up with Piers, but still, she deserved to hear it from a friend and not on the news.

Sherry thanked her, hung up her phone and cried. She let the sobs wrack her body as she cried for Piers, for their shared past and for the fact that Piers died thinking she hated him.

Sherry spent the next week in a state of shock. She functioned only on the most basic level at work then came home and drank herself to sleep each night. Finally, Claire put a stop to that one night.

"I get it, Sher. I understand. And you'll never be able to tell him why in person, but you could write it out. It might make you feel better."

Sherry was about to pour herself another glass of wine when Claire took the bottle and glass. "No. No more. Try my way."

She pouted like a child before agreeing she would. She waited until Claire left (taking the booze with her) before sitting down at her desk with a pen and paper.

 _My dearest Piers,_

 _I'm so sorry I will never get the chance to tell you this in person. You deserved an explanation a long, long time ago._

 _You and I had a lot of fun together. I cared about you a lot. But you didn't know me. It was my fault; I didn't let you. I didn't tell you about Raccoon City, or being infected, or my "super powers" as Jake calls them. I didn't tell you about being under the government's "care and supervision" for years afterward, being a test subject. I was forced to endure more than I could stand. Claire was the only one that stayed by my side._

 _I was terrified. I thought you would hate me, be repulsed by me if you knew what I'd been through, what I am, what I can do. Maybe I was wrong, but I was young, and I couldn't marry you when you had no idea who I was or what I even did for a living. The only way I was allowed to stop being a test subject was to accept a job as a government agent helping those facing bio-terror attacks. I jumped at the chance._

 _I needed time. Time to decide if you were ready to hear my story, to know what I was. By the time I'd decided to talk to you, you had been shipped off to your next assignment. I didn't see you again until we ran into each other in Edonia._

 _I know you disliked Jake. You overreacted, just a little bit. I know it was mostly because of me. You were pissed at me, and you didn't trust Jake to take care of me. I know you thought I was some fragile little flower, but truth is, I can take a lot more than you gave me credit for._

 _You wouldn't approve, but I fell in love with Jake in China. I haven't told him. He and I went through a lot. He knows me probably better than anyone except maybe Claire. He knows about my father, about my exposure to the virus, everything. And he still cares for me._

 _I hope you are at peace now, Piers. Thank you for coming into my life. I'm sorry it ended the way it did, but that is something I'll have to make peace with. You were a hero and a great man. Thank you for all you've done. I'm sorry._

 _With love,_

 _Sherry_


End file.
